Seven Psychopaths

1/01/70

The line between reality and cinema is blurred in this
powerful but excessively violent drama. The complex plot
centers on a borderline-alcoholic screenwriter (Colin
Farrell) and two of his friends (Christopher Walken and Sam
Rockwell). The latter duo have a scam going that involves
kidnapping dogs and getting cash rewards for returning them
to their unsuspecting owners, who think the pets have just
gone missing. Walken's character uses the funds to finance
his wife's (Linda Bright Clay) breast cancer treatment. But
things go awry when they snatch a crazed gangster's (Woody
Harrelson) beloved pooch. They go on the lam, joined by the
screen scribe who incorporates their experiences into a
script he's writing for a movie with the same title as this
one. Writer-director Martin McDonagh is firing on all
aesthetic pistons, as too are his stars. But his serious
meditation on the vicious cycle of wrongdoing and revenge -
and the possibilities of living peacefully - is marred by
off-the-charts bloodletting and scenes of sickening mayhem.
Also lost in the queasy shuffle is his screenplay's unusually
forthright affirmation of an afterlife.